


I'm not half as good at anything as when I am with you

by jantony



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, M/M, Multi, POV Alternating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-02-26 01:54:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18714145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jantony/pseuds/jantony
Summary: Steve's new at Avengers High, luckily he has Bucky to guide him. Tony just wants to get out of there as soon as possible. But when he meets the blond hair blue eyed hunk, maybe he will stay.Fake dating, soft goodness at your service.





	1. New Kid

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written in years, please be kind. Endgame destroyed me but also gave us so much good stevetony content so i decided to mix up a couple of tropes I find really fun so let's see where this goes.
> 
> Betas and fic co writers are welcome!! Please leave kudos or write a comment :)

Steve's anxious, he fixes his braces one last time in the mirror before slinging his satchel over his shoulder. This was the second transfer within 3 months, luckily Avengers High is where his best friend James "Bucky" Barnes goes. Steve puts on his favourite blue peacoat and red scarf before, looks at himself in the mirror one last time making sure that there’s not a single hair out of place. It's November and colder than previous years and Steve can already feel his nose going numb. Bucky's patiently waiting outside in a gigantic puffy black coat and a very silly grey bobble hat with a bright red star emblemmed at the front, that Steve had gotten him two Christmases ago. 

He waves excitedly and slings an arm across Steve's broad shoulders, "You ready for your first day Steve?" Bucky asks, his face bursting into a large smile that lights up his eyes. 

Steve pushes him off laughing, "You know I could probably beat you in a fight Bucky this isn't junior year anymore".

It's weird to him how quickly Steve grew since the last time they saw each other. Steve used to be a skinny little kid from Brooklyn who always got into scraps with bigger, meaner guys which meant that Bucky more often than not had to step in. 

"Just because you're bigger now doesn't mean I won't kick your ass Steve" Bucky jostles. They chat to each other the whole way to school like Steve had never left for that year and a half. 

He leads Steve down a bunch of corridors before getting to Fury's office, "Here ya go buddy, you'll get your timetable from him, everything's pretty easy to find." 

Just like that the school bell trills as Bucky pulls Steve into a quick hug.  
"I have double russian literature but I'll see you later Steve, Nat's gonna be so mad if I'm late. Also don't stare at Fury's missing eye he hates that" Bucky calls out as he turns the corner out of sight. 

Steve takes a deep breath, before walking into the reception area. The school was recently refurbished in the summer so there's still a faint whiff of paint and new carpet. It's simple and sleek, modern but with some elements of older style architecture. Steve doesn't particularly like the style of the buildings, he finds it garish and very Stark-like. Howard Stark was a billionaire, he bought and refurbished a lot of buildings and made most of his fortune creating weapons for wars. Steve hated what the man stood for, he was a genius but he lacked morals. Howard’s son, Tony Stark was often seen acting out in public, making newspaper headlines frequently - Steve almost felt sorry for him. Steve walks up to the desk towards a young woman in her mid 20s, her hair pulled back into a neat bun.

"Steve Rogers, I'm new here" Steve announces. Miss Hill, he presumes judging by the name plate on her desk, gestures towards the row of plastic seats outside of Fury's office. 

"Director Fury won't be a moment." She smiles, as she continues typing on her computer. A second later, Director Fury walks out of his office, he's a tall black man with a pair of glasses perched on his nose, one lens blacked out and the other clear. 

"Rogers, welcome to Avengers High" Fury announces in a booming voice, he sticks out his hand for Steve to shake. With as much confidence as he can muster Steve shakes Fury's hand firmly. "I'll take you on a tour and then you can decide what elective classes you would like to take" Fury continues without a pause. "You have 4 compulsory classes and you have to take two elective classes, if your GPA is good you are allowed to take more if you wish. English, Maths, Science and Physical Education are all compulsory classes, you must pass them to continue your time here. From your file I see that you have an interest in art and history. Is that correct Rogers?" Fury stops and looks at Steve. 

Without losing eye contact, Steve nods "Yes sir". 

"You'll be happy to hear that we have a very good arts program and history is taught by our best." Fury continues showing Steve around the school, stopping at important rooms to introduce Steve to the classes. "If you are failing at one of the compulsory modules, you'll be assigned to a student in the upper year to help you study. We look out for each other here. It's a family." He explains as he puts a large hand on Steve's shoulder. Even though Steve has grown, he feels tiny next to Fury, his anxiety riding high, he really does hope that this school will be different and better than the last. Fury ends the tour and hands Steve a piece of paper explaining his timetable to him and sends him on his way. 

It's 09:25 am and Steve doesn't want to walk into his first class late so decides to wait for 10am before going to his next class. Already off to a bad start huh Rogers, Steve thinks to himself. He heads towards the library and has a peruse at the collection of books available. In one of the aisles, neuroscience, he spots a boy carrying a stack of books so high he can barely see where he's going. Fury really does make them work, Steve thinks to himself as he walks to the art history section. 

A few books that he's spent ages looking for are available and he goes to check them out before heading to his first class, maths. The girl at the counter introduces herself as Pepper Potts, she has bright ginger hair pulled into a messy bun and a smattering of freckles on her face. "First day?" She asks. Steve nods. "Vincent Van Gogh’s one of my favourites" she smiles as she slides across the stack of books. 

“Steve Rogers”, Steve replies. They converse for the remainder of Steve's period and find out that they're in the same year and share a couple of classes together. "Enjoy your first day Steve!" She calls out, Steve waves in response and makes his way to maths.

"This is our new student, Rogers, he's transferred here from Brooklyn. Please make him feel welcome." Mr Coulson drawls. "You can sit next to Banner" he points towards the empty seat next to a small boy with a pair of large glasses perched on his nose. It's the same boy Steve saw at the library. He puts his satchel down and slides in next to Banner. "Bruce" the boy whispers, "Steve" he replies. 

After two whole hours of maths learning complex numbers Steve's brain feels like it's about to burst. He feels incredibly stupid not understanding the basics, and sitting next to someone who's the top of their class doesn't help. Bruce is shy, he knows all the answers and finishes the sheets in record time but never puts his hand up to answer any questions Coulson asks. Bruce is nice though, he explains things slower to Steve and in a much more understandable way without being patronising or exasperated, there's still a long way to go before he catches up but at least he understood a couple of things. 

The bell goes off and they get up and head to lunch, Steve's starving, he was too anxious to eat breakfast this morning and his meal last night has all been burnt up from his restless sleep last night. Steve had asked Bruce about his interests and Bruce began explaining something to do with brains and lost him after the word neuroscience. He still nods and listens but his mind is overwhelmed with other thoughts. They get to the lunch line and Bucky spots Steve and waves him over. "See you later Bruce" Bruce nods and waves as they part ways, still mumbling to himself about theories. 

"Hey this is Steve he's my friend from Brooklyn. Steve this is Natasha, Thor, Carol and Valkyrie, we all train together" Bucky introduces, they all say hi back and shakes Steve's hands apart from Thor who punches him in the shoulder lightly. 

"I see you've met Bruce" Thor booms, he's slightly taller than Steve and broader with his long sandy blonde hair in braids pulled into a half ponytail. Thor looks like a Norse god and has the physique of one too. "You should ask him over for lunch" Thor continues slightly bashful. 

Valkyrie, who has her arm around Carol bursts out laughing. "Maybe you should ask him yourself, son of Odin. He's shy because he's got a crush" she fake whispers to Steve. The easy camaraderie is infectious and Steve gets swept up into their group. Thor spends the entire lunch trying to not - so - subtly ask about Bruce, whilst Bucky and Natasha flirt with each other easily in a mix of Russian and English.

“You should train with us Steve”, Bucky propositions. They empty their trays into the bins. “Every Monday and Thursday, plus Thor would love another excuse to interrogate you”.

Steve considers it, he’s never really been part of a team before and it would be fun to hang out with Bucky more. He nods, “Alright I’ll give it a go” Bucky smiles one of his smiles only reserved for Steve, the one where his eyes crinkle up and the smile lights up his face, pulling him into a brief hug. 

They part ways, and Steve heads to his next class. Science. Halfway through class, the door bursts open and Fury is seen dragging a small boy by the scruff of his neck. He’s wearing a Black Sabbath t-shirt covered in oil grease with a pair of jeans ripped at the knee and some very expensive looking sneakers. His hair is in all directions, probably from the boy running his hands through it. He detaches himself from Fury and smooths out his shirt before scanning the room and locking eyes with Steve. The corner of his mouth twitches into a smirk and its Steve’s breath that catches at his throat, the boy is beautiful and every bit magnetic.

“Apologies Miss Van Dyne, Stark here thought it would be fun to pretend to be a senior and sit in on other classes.” He glares at the boy with his one eye. Tony Stark, is much more beautiful in person, Steve thinks still looking at the scene in front of him. “From now on you will go to your assigned classes, if you miss even one class or turn up a fraction of a second late, disciplinary action will be taken. You will be kicked out.” Fury continues angrily. Steve feels embarrassed for Stark getting chewed out in front of the new class, but the boy doesn’t flinch - he looks bored even. 

Stark rolls his eyes and saunters towards an empty seat near the back. As he passes by Steve, his hand brushes slightly on his shoulder and Steve feels his whole body burning up. For the rest of class, he can feel Tony’s eyes boring into the back of his head, he tries to concentrate on the sheet of paper in front of him but he doesn’t understand a single thing. The bell goes and he dashes out of class wanting to be very very far away from Tony Stark.

A couple of weeks go by and it’s already December, Steve gets into the habit of turning up early at school to study, going to classes, training with Bucky and his friends, staying late to study and not-thinking-about-tony-stark. He doesn’t really succeed with the last one but it's the trying that counts.

Steve’s getting the hang of maths now that he and Bruce have become better friends, Bruce helps him on mornings when they accidentally bump into each other at the library. His solid F has turned into a C- unfortunately, Bruce doesn’t share science classes with him and is completely no help. He finds out that Tony and Bruce are science bros, very unexpectedly one morning.

//

Steve’s sitting by his favorite window seat at the corner of the library, he’s the only one there at 6 am with the exception of a couple of seniors cramming in their last essays. He’s working on his physics coursework when he hears Bruce’s furtive whispers across the room, he’s with Tony and they seemed to be arguing about something. Steve looks up from the half-finished equations and sees Tony raise both his arms animatedly, gesturing wildly whilst Bruce nods, his eyebrows furrowed into an expression of deep concentration. He’s wearing another band t-shirt that Steve doesn’t recognize, hair sticking up in all directions. He looks beautiful, Steve thinks. 

Steve reluctantly drags his eyes away from the scene across the room but he feels distracted, he looks up once more and this time Tony catches his eye and winks at him. Steve can feel a deep blush crawling up his chest as his breath catches at his throat. He manages to smile back shyly before dropping his head to look at his work. A little while later, Bruce slides into the empty seat in front of Steve and pulls out a notebook scribbles a couple of things. They work opposite each other in amicable silence, a routine they’ve fallen into since Steve began doing extra work to catch up in class.

It’s 07:22 and Steve is about to leave for a quick glass of water when Tony Stark excitedly bursts into the library to find Bruce. “I’ve done it! Bruce! Bruce! I. Am. A. Genius.” he exclaims, punctuating the last few words by shaking Bruce’s shoulder before pulling him into a hug. Bruce is shell shocked for a second until his mind finally catches up and his face lights up into a gleeful grin matching Tony’s.

“Oh MY God- How did you-”

“Figure out how to fix the segmentation fault” they both excitedly say at the same time.  
The conversation goes into technobabble and Steve can barely keep up, Tony speaks so fast and Steve can only make out a couple of words and it doesn’t help that the boy never finished his sentences. Without missing a beat, Tony introduces himself to Steve formally catching him by surprise.

“Hey hot stuff, you’re in my science labs aren’t you? I’m Tony”, Tony grins at Steve.

“Uh-hi yeah” Steve clears his throat, “Rogers- Steve, hi I’m Steve”

Tony glances at the pieces of paper in front of Steve, empty bar a couple of working outs crossed out multiple times by Steve. “Oh, are you working on Miss Van Dyne’s awful problem sheets?” Steve nods. “You know they’re not compulsory right”

“Yeah I know, but I’m just catching up to speed with classes here” Steve replies.

“Well if you ever need any help, just holla. It was nice meeting you Rogers” Tony says, he’s still buzzing from his revelation with one of his projects, pulling Bruce away with him as he leaves. Steve is well and truly fucked.

//

Steve never “holla-d” for help in his labs even though he was getting progressively worse grades for it, which both he and Miss Van Dyne did not think was possible. Steve tried, he really did, he spent every other morning that wasn’t spent on maths focusing on the dreaded physics. He was okay doing experiments and writing lab reports, but when it came to exam bookwork and class tests he scored the worst in the class. Bruce described it as a trainwreck that kept rolling down more abyss’. Steve didn’t really understand his metaphor but he agreed. Bruce occasionally would try to point him in the right direction but because Bruce was in the upper year for science he had too much on his plate to tutor Steve the same way he did for him for maths.

It came to a point where Principal Fury had to step in. The conversation was pretty short and even Fury was somewhat surprised at how awful Steve Rogers was at science. It wasn’t all science, mind you, just physics in particular. That being said, Steve was no genius at biology  
or chemistry but he could just about scrape a pass.

“I’m assigning you a tutor Rogers, if you do not pass this year you will resit the whole year, other grades be damned. You’re a good student Rogers, I wouldn’t want to see you fail.” 

And with that Fury dismissed him with a wave of a hand. “Miss Hill will hand you your new  
timetable”.

Steve walks out of Fury’s office, he lets out a breath that he didn’t know he was holding in, he’s glad that he’s not getting kicked out and a tutor doesn’t sound too bad. He politely nods at Miss Hill and collects his timetable on the way out. His tutor was Tony Stark.


	2. Tony

Tony’s angry, he can feel the hot white anger clouding his mind, taking over his whole body. He throws himself onto his bed, his screams muffled by the soft pillow underneath him. He hates his dad, he hates him, he hates him, he hates him.

Tony hears his door click open. “Hey sweetie” Maria Stark says, she pushes open Tony’s door slightly and slips into his room, her weight sinking into the side of his bed. Tony shuffles over slightly and turns his head towards his mother. His eyes are wet, the anger still present on his face. Maria reaches over and pulls her son into her lap, pressing soft kisses into his messy hair. “You know your father doesn’t mean it, he loves you really.” 

Maria’s eyes are wet, she swallows uncomfortably but she puts on her best smile for Tony, hugging him against her tightly. Tony finally relaxes into her touch, a couple of tears escaping his brown eyes. They stay like that for a while before Tony mumbles that he has to work on his projects. Maria nods and kisses him on the cheek before leaving his room. 

The door clicks close and Tony takes a deep breath and begins tinkering. Tony works away his emotions, his hands moving in perfect synchronicity with his mind, he builds and builds until he can bring life to his imaginations. He’s always been like this, his mind is always creating new and wonderful things, things that Howard takes and takes. 

Howard Stark, was not a very nice man. Being Howard Stark’s son wasn’t all awful, he always went to bed with a full stomach and there was always an abundance of materials and resources to play with. Maria loved him and she always showed that to him. So when the press inevitably ask him if he had a good childhood in 50 years, saying that it was bad wouldn’t entirely be true. That being said, Howard wasn’t a great father, he often spent a lot of time away, working on projects overtime, forgetting Tony’s birthdays, parents evenings and other things that might seem small in the grand scheme of things but to a kid meant the world. Maria tried her best, but there was only so much she could do about an absent father. It got worse the older Tony got. 

The smarter he became the more Howard paid attention to him - not as a father but as a businessman. He pushed Tony to create more for Stark industries, treating him like a lowly colleague rather than his own son, he was often harsh with his critiques - never praising. The harsher Howard became, the more withdrawn Tony became.

Tony Stark builds and builds, he builds robots, circuit boards and gadgets. He builds for himself, every look, every smile, every word he says is a perfectly crafted piece of armour. He becomes stronger for it, but behind the armour is a man growing more broken. He’s too young to feel this way, but growing up in the limelight and the shadow of Howard Stark has aged him irreparably. 

Tony falls into a deep uncomfortable sleep riddled with half finished projects and nightmares about his father. The sharp bitter sound of his alarm jolts Tony awake from his restless sleep. Tony rubs the sleep from his eyes and groans softly, he rolls his shoulders to loosen the familiar ache. One thing he hates more than his father’s pushing is having to go to Avenger’s High - worse now that his best friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes graduated. 

Rhodey was Tony’s one constant in his life. They met on Tony’s first day, Tony had gotten into a fight with one of the upper years who had decided to pick on him for being small. They had smashed his robot and 7th grade Tony was angry. He stood up, his shoulders drawn and his small hands in fists. He threw a punch and hit one of the bullies in the stomach, a second later his head hit the ground with a sickening crunch. He braced himself for a second hit but heard the bullies hit the ground. A tall boy stood over Tony and reached out his hand, “hey I’m James but my friends call me Rhodey”. From then, they became best friends, Rhodey looked out for Tony, and no one messed with them. Rhodey wanted to join the army and when he left to join military school Tony felt lost.

He still had Bruce and Pepper but it wasn’t the same now that Rhodey had left. Tony had been smart enough to go to MIT since he turned 11 but Howard had forced him to go to Avenger’s High to “build social skills”. So not only was Avenger’s High boring, Tony was also running laps around his teachers. He wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, he hated spending 6 hours a day somewhere he didn’t need to be.

Tony’s phone pings him back into reality. It was a morning text from his long term girlfriend Pepper Potts. They had gotten together a year and a half ago, it felt like a natural progression from their friendship. He loves Pepper a lot, she’s beautiful, kind and caring - not to mention one of the few that puts up with Tony’s shit. If someone asked if he was in love with her, Tony wouldn’t know what the answer would be. Hell, he thought he was in love with Rhodey and Bruce before realising that they were just intense “friend feelings”. 

Tony methodically goes through his morning routine before meeting Pepper at the cafe on the corner of Avengers High. He puts in slightly more effort, running a comb through his hair rather than his fingers, wearing his favourite Black Sabbath t-shirt that she had gotten him on their one year anniversary.

“Hey Pep” Tony says, he slides into the seat opposite Pepper’s in their favourite booth. Pepper hands Tony his regular black coffee. Pepper takes a sip from her warm chocolate mocha with extra whipped cream.

“You’re late” Pepper says, mock anger on her face.

Tony glances at his watch, “fashionably late!” he exclaims, “Also when have you ever known me to be on time.” Pepper shakes her head lightly and laughs. 

“You’ll be the death of me Anthony Edward Stark”

//

Tony sneaks into Dr Pym’s class, he’s been doing it for over a month. It’s not that he dislikes Miss Van Dyne’s class, it’s just that he can run laps around her. Plus, learning about the quantum realm is much more interesting. He sinks down low at the back of the class, his hood pulled up, letting the words of Dr Pym’s class swirl around him.

That is until Director Fury storms in and grabs Tony by the back of his neck. 

Tony just about manages to grab his backpack and notebook whilst getting marched out of class. Fury sounds angry but Tony isn’t listening, he rolls his eyes when he gets pulled into Miss Van Dyne’s class. He manages to shake himself loose of Fury’s grip and notices that there’s a new student sitting at the front. 

The new kid’s staring at Tony, Tony doesn’t mind because he’s used to it from growing up in the public eye. Tony catches him staring and shoots him one of his trademark “Tony Stark smiles” and he can visibly see the blond kid squirm in his seat. He can see a faint blush creeping up the boy’s shirt and Tony feels jittery. Fury finally stops talking and pushes Tony towards his seat. As an experiment Tony walks by big blond hunk and “accidentally” brushes his hand on his shoulder. Huh, I’ve never had that effect on people before Tony notes as the new kid runs out of class, the second the bell rings. It’s safe to say that Tony is intrigued.


End file.
